Trump's SNAP Emergency Off-Ramp?

 

Following rulings by judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island that the Malignant Fascist's regime must pay SNAP benefits for now, the MF may have decided to take the off- ramp from his politically disastrous tactic of using food assistance as leverage in the Government shutdown standoff:

Federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled Friday afternoon that President Donald Trump must fund food stamps during the government shutdown.

In a Friday night Truth Social post, Trump signaled he would comply with the judges' orders.

"Our Government lawyers do not think we have the legal authority to pay SNAP with certain monies we have available, and now two Courts have issued conflicting opinions on what we can and cannot do," the president said on Truth Social.

He added, "Therefore, I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible."

The cases, filed on behalf of states, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations this week, called for the Trump administration to use contingency funds to pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the government shutdown.

The rulings reverse the USDA's plans to pause benefits starting November 1 after their typical funding sources ran out. Patrick A. Penn, deputy undersecretary for US Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services, said in a letter to state leaders on October 24 that the Agriculture Department is "suspending all November 2025 benefit allotments until such time as sufficient federal funding is provided, or until FNS directs State agencies otherwise."

In documents seen by Business Insider, the US Department of Agriculture said it has money held in contingency funds to be used in case of emergency, but said those funds cannot be used for SNAP. Because of previous budget allocations, using federal funds to pay for November benefits would pull money away from other important programs, like school lunches or disaster relief, the Department said.

The judges' rulings mean that the Trump administration must continue funding SNAP while the case plays out in court.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is America's largest food safety net, helping around 42 million low-income households afford groceries each month.

Even if the suddenly law-abiding MF chickens out on this tactic for now, none of this means that his otherwise lawless war on the poor (including many millions of MF supporters) will end:

The judges' ruling means that SNAP will have access to some contingency funding, though it's unclear how long that will last. The Trump administration will also have an opportunity to appeal.

Beneficiaries can still expect changes to the program when the government reopens. Trump's spending plan, which he signed into law in July, will reduce funding for federal nutrition aid like SNAP by nearly $200 billion over the next decade.

The plan will also require nondisabled adults without dependents to fulfill work requirements until they reach age 64 to qualify for aid, up from the current cutoff age of 54. That work requirement change is scheduled to begin on November 1. An estimate from the Congressional Budget Office found that over 2 million Americans could lose SNAP coverage with these adjustments.  (our emphasis)

That's the "One Big Beautiful Bill" for billionaires act that the MAGAt Republican cult is so proud of that's responsible for those longer- term changes, of course.  

It must have been a literate assistant who typed out that "Truth social" message from the MF, because we know his true feelings:

President Donald Trump’s complete indifference to the suffering of others has made the situation worse. Earlier this month, he threatened his political opponents with apparent glee: “We’ll be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly, because that’s the way it works. They [Democrats] wanted to do this. So we’ll give them a little taste of their own medicine.”

That's the psychopath in the (under demolition) White House, all you MAGAts on SNAP who voted for it.